Nol wrote:Mayor of Haarlem, the Netherlands, starts crusade against coffeeshops.
Haarlem used to be one of Holland’s’ Cities with a very relaxed coffeeshop policy, maybe because the provincial capital served as the model for the changes in the coffeeshop policy nationwide.
Haarlem was the first municipality that prohibited the sa...le of alcohol from tolerated coffeeshops, the rest of the Dutch coffeeshops followed that example later. I promoted the “Haarlem Model” where ever I could, some of my colleagues used it successfully as their defense when it came to standing up against unfair coffeeshop regulations in their municipality.
The Haarlem coffeeshop entrepreneurs had annual meetings with representatives of the City Council and Police, during which changes in policy were discussed before being executed, or not. Coffeeshops had 3 to 4 checkups a year, executed by local officers of the Leisure Department and City Police.
There were never any upsets, because the coffeeshops caused no trouble whatsoever, the police focused on real crime, back then.During the last meeting we had with the City, we were told that if ever the policy towards coffeeshops was to change, we would be informed about it during a future meeting.
Little did we know this meeting would be the last, until now, but the rules towards coffeeshops in Haarlem have changed nevertheless, without informing the coffeeshop entrepreneurs, and their staff and customers.
Things started to change after our new Mayor, Bernt Schneiders was appointed for this job in Haarlem. He is known for not allowing a coffeeshop in his former town, Heemskerk, where he was Mayor for 5 years, before moving to Haarlem.
Heemskerk made a coffeeshop policy, allowing 1 coffeeshop in their town, a lot of people applied for the permit, amongst whom a friend of mine. He said it was very difficult to find a location, because no real estate agent wanted to sell or rent a premises to open a coffeeshop in Heemskerk.
My friend said the Mayor, Schneiders, told the real estate agencies not to rent or sell to wannabe coffeeshop owners, if they wanted to keep doing business in Heemskerk.
He did not finish his term in Heemskerk, he was appointed to become the Mayor in Haarlem, not elected, we do not have that much of democracy left. He is a Pv.d.A Mayor, from the same political party as our former mayors, so we did not worry about his appointment.
We never knew what hit us when Bernt, the new Sherriff, decided to start raiding coffeeshops, full blast, without informing us about the change in policy, as we were promised under the former Mayor, Mr. Jaap Pop.
Coffeeshops always had super low priority, as they never gave a reason for policing.
So when he hit the first two shops, our Sativa and the Maximillian, it was no surprise the Hit team found cannabis in the coffeeshops, more than 500 grams, that is. True, the Sativa had a little too much in the coffeeshop, and so did the Maximillian, but the quantities found were no reason for closure. The police also found 10 kilo’s in an apartment above the Sativa, and a big stash (42 K) above the Maximillian. The Sativa was closed for 6 months, the Maximillian for a full year, by decision of Mayor Schneiders.
It was the first ever offense of both coffeeshops, no previous warning, no mercy, no chance in defense. In Maximillian’s case, the Tax Office knew he had his stash upstairs, they kept track of his supply for revenue reasons, with the owners full cooperation.
After having the two shops closed, he must have found out Haarlem had no policy on coffeeshop offenses and closures, so he made one up, making sure the penalties already given were made ‘legal’ by using them as standard penalties in his policy for the future. We went to court twice, and we spoke to a independent committee, but all without result, we were and stayed closed for half a year.
Three months after reopening we got word of the committee, they had advised the Mayor to lower our penalty to 3 months, but the Mayor ignored their advice.In the end, Maximillian appealed with a small success, they were closed for 9 months, the higher Judge was more understanding than the Haarlem Judge.
The Mayor threatened he would appeal in the local press, but in the end he did not undertake any more action against ‘the Max’. Today, 3 of Haarlems 16 coffeeshops are closed, by the Mayor, all for making the mistake to sell to 1 minor, no warning, no mercy, closed for 6 months.
This puts more pressure on the 13 left, because we all have a certain part of Haarlems tokers as customer, so the customers of the 3 shops shut down are spreading amongst the ones still open.Mayor Schneiders did not stop at harassing coffeeshops only, since January of this year he started going after our customers, on the street, he send his cops after people smoking a joint, to give them a 60 Euro’s fine.
The police, read: undercover cops, even confiscated a 3 gram baggy of weed of one of our customers, just after he left the coffeeshop.
I called my Lawyer about this, he confirmed my thoughts, this was outrageous, and against the Opium Law, in which the coffeeshop tolerance policy is integrated.
He made up a summons, in cooperation with a Judge, the first time in Dutch history, in which the Head Prosecutor of Haarlem was told to stop pursuing and fining smokers in the street.
We went to the Police Headquarter the next day, to check if the Police were still fining pot smokers. After I notified the Police in the station about the smokers outside, twice, we smoked a 100 joints with about 40 protesters. The Police did not come out to fine us, so we left after almost an hour, mission accomplished, no more fines.
The excuse of the Police was that we were all adults, and did not cause any trouble in front of the station, as the newspaper printed the next day. Strange, they fined 5 of my customers, all adults, without causing trouble whatsoever, only a nice smell…
Our Lawyer also wrote the Haarlem Mayor, for a meeting about the coffeeshop policy changes, but, so far, he has not heard from Bernt “The Marihuana Marshall” Schneiders. We will probably end up suing him for our customers, he just ignores us, and our Lawyer as well.
Besides the mayor we are facing the results of the anti-coffeeshop propaganda we were fed by 4 consecutive Governments with Prime Minister Peter “ Harry Potter” Balkenende, who is known for his zero coffeeshop policy.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1990620.stm
A local newspaper, Haarlems Dagblad, put a poll on their website, stating: “ Should the police keep fining pot smokers in the streets?” It ended with 60 % in favor of not fining for joints in the streets, after we started participating, we were way down, before we noticed the poll.
Today we found out there is another poll running on the website of a local weekly paper, this time the question is:
“ Should the city close coffeeshops?”
No argumentation, just like that, not if they should all be closed, or why, and how??
Of course we are way ahead in the poll, even non smokers do not want coffeeshops to close, but the mere presence of these polls is suspicious, and makes my adrenaline flow.
It seems the Mayor is being interviewed by this local weekly every forth night, for an update on his ‘ work’ as mayor of Haarlem, maybe he gave the paper a hint?
Mayor Bernt wants to uphold the Law, his Law, his way, but we, the coffeeshoppers* of Haarlem, are fed up with his harassment of coffeeshops, their owners, their staff and their customers.
More actions will follow soon, no use in writing him more letters, and we will come from all sides.
Therefore, I want to ask those who come to Holland and Haarlem for cannabis and coffeeshops to help me a bit.Under this message is Mayor Bernt Schneiders email, as I found it on the website of the local weekly, it is his ask-the-Mayor-mail.
I would like you to ask/aks him, in a polite way, why he is so opposed to coffeeshops. Please, no insults, show him we are civilized people, it would not help us if you call him a bitch.
I only want to add that Mayor Schneiders is appointed the Chairman of the Union of Dutch Mayors, if he can push this, his anti-coffeeshop tactics might become in action throughout the Netherlands.
Let’s stop him here, invade his email box!Thanks for standing up with us.
vraaghetdeburgemeester@haarlem.nl Ask the Mayor….
May the stash be with you,
Nol van Schaik,Secretary Team Haarlems’ Coffeeshopowners.
*Coffeeshoppers: All those who have a reason to be in a coffeeshop, so, the owners, the staff and the clientele.
